How Accessibility Boosts SEO And Wins Loyal Customers with Maxwell Ivey, Podmatch #1 Guest!

We talk with Maxwell Ivy, the Blind Blogger, about why accessibility is a growth lever for small businesses and a real-world way to serve people better. We connect the dots between inclusive design, SEO, cleaner code, loyal customers, and the power of community when you stop trying to do everything alone.

• Maxwell’s work as an accessibility advisor for products, services, and content
• Why accessibility improvements usually improve user experience for everyone
• How accessibility supports SEO and helps search engines and AI understand your site
• The size and buying power of the disability community and why loyalty is underestimated
• Alt text basics and a simple system for storing descriptions for reuse
• Maxwell’s path from carnival owner to self-taught HTML to podcasting and speaking
• Turning a perceived weakness into a superpower through inclusion and storytelling
• Disability as a minority anyone can join and why invisible disabilities matter
• A closing mindset on taking action and asking for help

All of his links are going to be down in the show notes so you can grab all of his available resources and make sure to follow Maxwell on social media

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello there and welcome back to the next episode of Overcome Yourself the Podcast. As you know, my name is Nicole, and I'm very excited to be here today with Maxwell.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:13

And now, Maxwell has an incredible story of illustrating, I think, one of the points that I talk about in my book, and of how he took something that he thought was his weakness. And with a little help from some friends, he was able to turn that into one of his superpowers. And that's what brings him here today to talk to us. So please, Max, take it away. Introduce yourself. Let us know a little bit about who you are and who you help.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Okay, so I am Maxville Ivy, known as the Blind Blogger. I am an accessibility advisor who helps small business owners and soft level companies improve the accessibility of their products, services, and content so they can leverage the power of the disability community and also improve the uh user experiences of everybody else. I am a former carnival owner, amusement equipment broker, life goals coach, and podcast guest booker. And about five years ago, I started realizing that I have been an expert in accessibility for years. I've been educating people about it ever since 2007 when I started my first website. And accessibility was so non-existent that I had to teach myself to code HTML just to get online. And uh that I've been doing the work, educating people, advocating, championing, but just haven't been focusing on it as a career, getting paid for it. So, with the help of friends like Alex San Filippo, the founder of PodMatch.com, who was my first paying client, and others, I've realized that this is where I need to be. This is my perfect place, especially because I have a message that's unusual, if not unique, to the disability community, which is we have to focus more on the positive benefits of inclusion and why organization leaders should care about accessibility at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Tell us, tell us more. Like this is all so on point. Um, so yeah, tell us more. How can we how can we do that?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Okay, so first off, I feel like we need to talk more about the why before we get to the how. And there are so there are so many great benefits. Some of them I recently discovered that I haven't been talking about. So, if first off, whenever you improve

Why Accessibility Helps Everyone

SPEAKER_01 2:33

accessibility for people who have various physical, mental, or emotional challenges to navigating the online world, you will always or almost always improve the user experience of people who don't have disabilities. Many of the things I complain about as a blind computer user, when I complain about them to slightly people are like, we struggle with that too, Max. So improving accessibility improves user experience. It also will raise your search engine rankings, and it will uh communicate your message to the AI bots. In fact, search engines and AI bots have to have the internet explained to them. And one of the best ways you can teach them who you are, what you offer, and who should care about your business is to embrace accessibility and make sure you're meeting all the basic minimum web content accessibility guidelines for online accessibility. Uh, then beyond that, there is a huge audience out there. It's generally assumed that one in six people globally will have some form of disability or identify as having at least one form of disability, which would be roughly 50 to 60 million people in the U.S. And out of that 50 to 60 million, probably 12 to 15 of those millions would have some sort of vision loss issue. However, that only talks about people who will admit that they have a disability because quite often people with neurodis developmental disabilities do not want people to know they have the disability, or it's not obvious. And then people as they age, they tend to have the same challenges of vision loss, hearing loss, and loss of motor control, but they will never think of that as being disabled. They think of that's just growing old, but they got the same needs, so there's this huge audience, and because such a small percentage of the internet embraces accessibility and a small percentage of business owner, period, we want to support the companies that will make the effort. They don't have to be perfect, they don't have to have solved it, they just have to be making a continuous effort towards accessibility, and and we want to see them succeed. So we will, in many cases, we stay with them through the good times and the bad, and we will see their investments in accessibility as a value-added proposition that will cause us to sometimes pay more for a product that is delivered in an accessible manner. Uh, we are very loyal consumers, and we're also very vocal consumers. When we find somebody that's making the effort, we will promote them to our friends, our families, our social media followings. And there's really a big underestimation of just how many there are out here that have a disability that have a huge social media following or YouTube following that the mainstream brands are ignoring because they just don't realize the power and the potential. I like to say that when you hire, when you improve accessibility to bring in customers who have a disability or bring in customers who care about people with disabilities, it's like hiring influencers that you don't have to pay. So these are all many benefits. A couple others that I recently learned about is that when you build an accessible website, the you create better code, which means the website is simpler to maintain going forward. You use less electrical when you're and less data. And one thing that a lot of website owners are concerned with is your site load times will actually go down as a result of improving accessibility.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Oh, that's really cool. Um so much gold in there. I know that one of the things as when I got um SEO certified, I took a course. Um, and

Alt Text Tips That Stick

SPEAKER_00 6:27

one of the things that is recommended that we always do, one of the things we have to do for websites for accessibilities, is like having alt tags on the images. Um, and so that makes it accessible, I always say, for someone using a screen reader. So like you're the perfect example of that. Um, but even before we started recording this call, you gave me a great tip of adding um a comment to the photo, like within when you save it on your computer. So even before it gets online, with basically that alt text, which is just a simple description of what's going on in the picture, so that you, your screen reader, can like literally read you what's going on in the picture, right? Because it's not it can't read a picture. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Yeah, there are some AI tools that are currently claiming that they can describe pictures. However, I'm I'm not sold on those as of yet. I think there's there's hope within AI that it can do alt text and do do image and video descriptions, but I feel like there's also hope for the driverless car, and I'm not sure if either one of those are ever going to happen. But uh what I was there, I I was thinking that whenever see, here's one of the problems with alt text. I think most people nowadays know about the need for it and know about the social, excuse me, the search engine optimization or SEO value of doing it. The problem is that there's no way to just do it and not have to do it again. So, like the reason I asked you if you could add it to the comments is because when you upload your images to your website or social media posts, you will have to add those that information when you upload it. When I share those same images on my social media feeds, I will have to do the same thing. I have to add those descriptions. There's no way for them to follow. But by putting it in the comments, you put it somewhere that's handy where I don't have to think, okay, where do where did I put that email that had the description of these images, or where did I put that direct message? And so you can always just go into the comment, do a copy and paste, and add that alt text when you're uploading that photo or when you're when you're sending it to somebody else, you can tell them, hey, you need alt text, just look in the comments. So it's a it's a handy way to store the information so that anybody that needs it down the road that wants it, you can just say it's in the comments. Just and so that that's why it's it doesn't solve the problem of adding the alt text, but it I think it does make it the process easier the longer you get away from the day you created the photo. And I I don't know about you, but I know it means everybody gets fuzzy tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

So yes, I know, I know exactly what you mean. That is a fantastic tip. Um, and so I really appreciate you bringing that to our attention. Um, because it's something that's so easy to implement, and you're right, it does make it easier in the long run. Because if you have a picture, you know, my website's, you know, like if 10 years passed and you need to share that picture, you know, like how are you gonna remember where it came from?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Like uh, yes, and first let me congratulate you on being out here for 10 years. That is a major accomplishment. Yes, yeah, the more research we get on uh web online business owners, website owners, bloggers, podcasters, the more we realize that even a even a few months or a whole year can be like a lifetime online for people. So to do it for 10 years like you have, or for me to be doing it since 2007, getting close to 20 years, you know, it's uh it's it's it's a testament to our grit resilience and just not understanding how to quit.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yes, thank you. And and I commend you as well. Um, because it is it is a feat and you know things change so fast. So keeping up with everything, um, it really is it really is something else, isn't it? Um, but before we dive into something else, what I want to know, I want to back up a little bit. Um, and I would love to hear a little bit more about your story because

From Carnivals To Online Business

SPEAKER_00 10:46

you you mentioned that you owned, was it a carnival? Is that is that what you said? Um, so can you tell us the story of Maxwell and how he ended up here doing what he's doing today?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Sure. So I grew up in a family of carnival owners. There were four different carnivals in the Houston area owned by members of my immediate family. And my cousin still operates one. I like to say that he won the Monopoly game, he's got all the rights and all the money. And uh his business is now worth millions of dollars, and they travel from Houston to Nebraska and back every year. And so, but my grandfather started the carnival in the 50s. Uh, my dad and the other in-laws continued the business in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Uh, I was in the business up until 2003 when my dad passed away. Uh, pretty much everybody in our family has been in the business at some point, even if it was just working summers between college or work, because it's just what we did and what for the most part we continue to do. So, my dad passed away, and we were able to keep our carnival going for a couple of years, and then the insurance premiums got to the point where we just couldn't sustain ourselves by ourselves. One thing most people understand is if you are a small business, it's very challenging to continue to compete in an industry where most of your competitors are much larger than you are. So we eventually could uh combined our rides and games with my uncle's carnival. We sold our rides, and I needed something to do with myself because my kids' games were not able to compete on his big midway, and I didn't have the money to invest in newer things that people would want to spend money on, and I just didn't like the idea of being a being a drag on our family's finances because the last year and a half or so they were taking money out of the food trailer and other attractions in order to buy the supplies and keep me out on the Midway. So in 2007, I started a website called the Midway Marketplace where I figured I could help people sell their surplus rides because I had had to do it for my family. And um, yeah, the thing was though, is I really didn't feel like I knew how to do anything else. So I was very highly motivated to just find a way to do things, to solve problems, to ask questions, and basically just to work all hours because it was like uh the like if this doesn't work, then what do I do next? So I filed for the domain name. I taught myself to code HTML. I I figured out how to recruit clients by reaching out to people who knew me or knew my dad before he passed away. Uh, I figured out how to build an email list by exchanging free free links to people's businesses on my website for their signing up to my email list, which I did not even know that that was building a lead magnet at the time. I was just, I got to figure out something I can give them so they'll do this. And that was what I came up with.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

You know, so writing copy and managing media, and then eventually social media, and eventually blogging, recording videos, and eventually podcasting. But I started podcasting as a guest in 2013, promoting the amusement equipment as I transitioned from there to a life goals coach because people said that I was inspiring them and they wanted to hear more about being a blind entrepreneur. So the blindblogger.net became because people had been using that as a shorthand for me on LinkedIn and Facebook for a couple of years at that point. Mainly because back then most people with a disability were hiding their challenges, they were afraid that there would be a stigma attached to their disability and it would cause them not to succeed in this new world we had of called the internet. And basically, I just didn't know how to not put myself out there being, you know, the son of carnival owners and promoters and such. So I became the blind blogger because I was one of the few blind people that was blogging. And uh I started I continued doing podcast interviews, and then in 2016, I finally was challenged to start my own podcast, which I did with the help of a friend I met online named Fred Bye from Canada, who said he would help me, he would do the technical stuff, so I had to do was show up and talk. And we did that for six months before I eventually went and started doing myself. Um, since then, I've traveled the country to do speaking and book signings. I've written four books, two of them award winners. Generally, when I leave the house, I do it on very tight budgets that would cause most people to just go, uh-oh, I'm staying home. I generally travel by myself because for some reason none of my family want to go with me when I leave. And you know, that usually ends up being part of the story. Max out there by himself. Usually, usually some challenge will arise that I either didn't plan for or didn't expect, and I have to figure out how to get through it, and people learn lessons from that sort of thing. Uh, I have I've I've done, like I said, I've spoken in front of conferences, both inspirational, motivational messages about overcoming adversity and also accessibility and inclusion as far as why people should invest in accessibility as a competitive advantage. And a few years ago, I finally faced my fear of singing in public. I started uh recording some covers and then I wrote some of my own songs. And uh now every so often my friends give me a hard time because they want to know when the album's coming, and I keep telling them there ain't no album, it ain't happening. So uh these are just you know, I continue to do the next thing. Sometimes it was a challenge that I had to meet because of the business I was in, which was you know, coding HTML or uh pitching podcast hosts or pitching speaking events or finding the funding to get on a train and go to Philadelphia. So and sometimes it was just the thing I was doing, it was something I I had to learn in order to continue moving forward. And over the years, I've been challenged and encouraged to do a lot of different things, and now here I am at this point in my life where I'm an accessibility accessibility expert, I'm an inspirational, motivational speaker, I'm a regular contributing writer with a with a monthly column and PHP architect. You know, I'm a lot of these things I'm doing because back 18 years ago, I said, well, this is the only thing I know how to do. I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna find a way to do it and get better as I go, and now here I am. So, and for the longest time, when I used to sing on my podcast or when I sang at public speaking, I would sing The River by Garth Brooks because I felt like that song was pretty much the epitome of how I've gotten from where I was to where I was next to where I am now.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Wow, wow, wow, wow. And the how did you how did you figure out this uh I guess consulting for accessibility? Because you said that you didn't even realize that that was a possibility until someone was like, You're really good at this. So can you tell me just a little bit about that?

Becoming The Blind Blogger

SPEAKER_01 18:21

And that is a perfect that's a perfect representation because um the first two people who recognize this in me first, uh first was Alex San Filippo from Podmatch, who was my first paying client. I met him to Alex Yeah, podmatch.com. Yeah, and I met him at uh at Podfest in 2019. We both spoke in the Pecha Kucha track. I did a talk on interdependence, and he did a talk on pod on storytelling as part of podcasting. And he followed me out into the lobby because he said he had to meet me after my talk, and we we were friends. Um, and then since I have been a prolific podcast guest, I was one of the first users of PodMatch. And I was, of course, one of the first thing I had to do was get them to make it accessible because in the in the very early days, it was it was really not much use to me being a screen reader user. But at first, we exchanged emails and I gave him advice on a volunteer basis because I really liked what he was doing. I wanted to see him succeed. And then when the opportunity came along for them to actually hire somebody to add them to their team, he was like, Okay, Max, we gotta we've got to get you in here. And then as I've worked for him, he has continued to be a friend and a mentor who gives me advice on my business, on things I'm doing, things I shouldn't be doing, uh, pricing, a lot of things that he has helped me with and continues. And same for his wife, Alicia, who's a very uh powerful woman in the field of commerce herself and marketing, and very supportive. Uh, if you're lucky enough to be somebody she replies to emails from, you're you should consider yourself really lucky. Uh, so that was the first, but the other thing was, and and this is I think a good example because I speak about interdependence all the time, which is asking for help or opportunities or accepting them when offered. And I always talk about how some of the best things that happened to me were because somebody came along and said, Um, I think you should do this, or I don't think you can do this, or I want to help you do. So about four years ago, I'm on LinkedIn. I sent a thank you note to somebody from audioeye.com because I'm trying to expand my network among people in the accessibility field to learn more about something that I'm being told I'm an expert at. And their reply was, uh, Max, it's uh we appropriate, you know, you're welcome for the for sending the note, but we think we have a job for you. And I'm like, okay, send me the link and I'll look at it. And they sent it to me and I read through it, and about half of it I could do, you know, as far as educating people about accessibility and doing speaking and doing webinars, but the other half of it was all about Microsoft. And I've been a Mac user forever. I don't know nothing about nothing about uh Microsoft products. I have a Windows computer now with a speech on it, thanks to the Texas Workforce here in Texas, but I'm not still not a still not a Windows engineer. And I told them that. And I said, but I would love to support the eventual hire in a contract position. They said, Well, we would we are always open to having people contract for us, but we need you to submit an application. So I didn't even have a resume at that point because I hadn't had a real job in so long, I didn't need one. So I put together a real quick, you know, not so impressive resume as far as a visual appeal goes. And I submitted the application on LinkedIn. Thankfully, they used the what is it, simple, simple, simple apply or whatever. And 30 minutes later, I get an email that says, Mr. Ivory, we appreciate your interest in. position but you're not qualified for it and i got and i got a good laugh out of that and i wrote back to him i said i understand that that that's the point we we were pretty sure i wasn't qualified for it when i applied so uh four interviews later including one with the coo of the company who it turned out his family used to be his family is still in the amusement industry they are game owners and game manufacturers out of ohio he's no longer with the company but um every time i i interviewed we had to you know we would go over the the the processes to how i got to where i was and each time i would tell that about the you know the application thing and the other person i was talking to would get a good laugh out of it so i feel like it may have even helped me in the interview process that i openly and honestly shared this experience that a lot of people might have thought was uh negative or uh or maybe even maybe even derogatory but like i told you i put myself out there pretty much everywhere at any time and uh they invited me to become a contracting content contributor at first i wrote articles for their blog based on accessibility but using my unusual approach which is emphasizing the many benefits to businesses about accessibility and also using my storytelling i that's one of the other things i really have to thank them and other uh website owners for who have invited me to write is that I have really learned how good a storyteller I am even if I generally take longer to tell my stories than some other people would um so I did the con I did writing for their blog and then eventually they asked me to do some site evaluations. Last year they asked me to become a host for a podcast they were trying called Hearsay Shorts it lasted for about three months and they realized it wasn't getting traction like they wanted it to so we stopped doing it and that allowed me the time to start my own second podcast the accessibility advantage so I now have two podcasts what's your excuse which is about people who have overcome adversity and the accessibility advantage which is about how it's in everybody's best interest to be inclusive and you know these are the this is how I and I have a really good friend her name is Adrienne Smith. She's been with me from the beginning she was the first person to help me understand how inspiring my story is and why it is and we had this conversation a couple years ago about my finally accepting being an accessibility expert. She said Max the problem is

Getting Paid For Accessibility Expertise

SPEAKER_01 24:44

is you've been so many other things you didn't want to be nothing new again and you didn't want to be an accessibility person even more than than that. She says though I'm not surprised it took you a long time to get here but get over it. This is who you are this is what the world needs and you know you just need to embrace it and own it. And of course then as I've been working with audio and other people I've realized something else about myself and that is about 14 years ago when I started my second website as the blind blogger at theblindblogger.net I got two responses from people who either knew me or knew of me people who were cited who knew me said you know Max you're too good you're too talented you don't need to lean on your disability in order to be successful with your uh with your other website and then people who had vision loss or who are active in the community of people with vision loss their response was uh Max what are you doing why are you playing the quote blind card unquote to get your website started and so I didn't really realize you know these these these were the responses I got from quite a few people at that time but what happened you know you have to realize back then I was one of the very few people that was open about his disability online and I was one of the few people for years but now if you look at the internet if you go on social media or you you know you go to websites through through search engines you pretty much can't throw a rock online without running across somebody whose bio profile website name includes a reference to a disability or some sort of challenges on the related on their physical mental emotional abilities or their life circumstances and so with the help of some of the people I work worked with now I've come to realize not only am I the accessibility expert but I was a trailblazer. I was the guy or one of the guys who helped make it possible for more people to be open about their disability online yes um and you know what disabil disability being having a disability is one of the only minorities that anyone can fall into at any moment oh I love that you said that because I am really down with that approach to disability or to differently differently able or um because you're right at any point in our life we can all be disabled it can be hereditary genetic it can be trauma based it can even be and in many cases is age based and because if any of us can be disabled at any time and as you say be part of a minority group because we are a fringe minority group that we don't even have the government protections of other minority groups in most countries around the world.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

So we are definitely underrepresented and underappreciated but you're right but I expected I would have to explain that to you I just can't believe you just busted out with that statement because that's exactly the message I think we need to be going with yes well I have an invisible disability um I hurt my back in an accident when I was about nine years old and when I was 21 I was told I had the back of an elderly person and if I didn't quit working in restaurants and carrying heavy things I'd be in a wheelchair in less than five years. And so I had to quit my job and learn a whole new way to make money and heal myself and get stronger and um and so yeah and so I understand what it's like to be able to wake up one day and be like I can't even walk to the bathroom and people

Disability As A Minority Anyone Can Join

SPEAKER_00 28:31

look at you and they're like you're fine you're young like you you're you could get strong again and it's very frustrating. But it's it's it's amazing to be able to advocate for you know to be an advocate and to help other people who are advocates. You know I work with someone else who woke up one day and her entire spine was smashed and she couldn't walk around her house either. So she has to do a bunch of stuff and she's an advocate as well you know and and one of the things that we talk about like we actually that you mentioned how accessibility helps everyone for example ramps if you put up a ramp in front of a building anyone can use that ramp. If you put stairs some people might not be able to use those stairs and so starting off with making sure there's a ramp available and that way everyone is available to use it right it's it opens up accessibility for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Right one one of my favorite examples is the curve cutouts because I find it crazy that some parts of the country they still fight over whether or not to have curved cutouts. But if you go anywhere they have them and ask new parents or delivery men what they think about curve cutouts, they will tell you we love them. Yes you know that and the another another example for an online example of this is um for people who have vision loss but still have enough vision to to use the monitor quite often it really helps them if they can invert the text and put say a white or a light colored text on a black or dark colored background. And what they've found is that that's something that you put in for accessibility but it's also something that makes it easier for people on mobile devices to read their screens really high or really low light. So it's another example of how something that's designed to make the visually impaired people's lives easier makes everybody else's lives easier as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Yes yes so accessibility works for everyone um and it's so important. So I really thank you for coming out here and being vulnerable right because all those years back you were vulnerable enough to share what you were going through and like you said you became a trailblazer. And so I commend you for that and and for doing everything that you do for maybe those who can't right because there's they might not just not be able to so I I commend you and I want to know how can we stay in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Right. I appreciate that and what you said is so correct there there are many many people out there who aren't in a position to be vulnerable or advocate I recently uh connected with a filmmaker

Final Tip On Action And Help

SPEAKER_01 31:15

from Singapore her entire crew is made up of people with disabilities but in Singapore in Singapore about half her crew can't disclose their disabilities because they would lose their jobs so you know so some people just can't advocate or can't be champion or can't even be open. So you're right I am very blessed to get to be able to do this for others and people can find me at the accessibilityadvantage dot com or they can email me Maxwell at the accessibilityadvantage dot com. If they want to check out the other podcast what's your excuse and some of my more inspirational stuff they can go to the blindblogger.net and if you're on social media my favorite platform is LinkedIn where I am Maxwell IV IV as in Victor EY so I do hope y'all will reach out to me and one thing I want everybody here to know is I really do enjoy having conversations with people I don't know with agendas I don't have so don't feel like you have to be ready to hire me to book me or to buy something from me in order to talk to me. The more friendships we're willing to have so I do hope I'll hear from you and I look forward to hearing what y'all have to say about our conversation today.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

I love that so much and I'm gonna reach out to you about maybe being on your other podcast. So we'll see if we can have another conversation coming up I look forward to that's you know that's the connection stuff that can happen through podcasting that is so underestimated underrated yes I love it and not just that the audience we're connecting with you guys that are listening so thank you for being here with us and now before we do sign off Maxwell question um what's your biggest tip? Like what's your biggest tip for the audience that's how we like to sign off the show I would say that the the most important thing that I do is I take action without thinking about everything it's going to take for me to get to the destination.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Martin Luther King has a had a great quote he said you have to be willing to take the first it's it's easier to take the first step if you can't see the staircase. And so many of the things I've done I've done without thinking about them as much as I should have the other thing I would yeah the the other thing I want to make sure y'all get is is I really do believe in community community and interdependence and asking for help. So one thing I always like to share if I can is this expression to help people get over the fear of asking for help which is when you refuse to ask you rob the other the other person of the joy they would have received oh wow that's good yeah yeah I love it. Yeah because some people are really called to help and so you are robbing them of that opportunity when you don't ask it's their pleasure right it's their pleasure it can also be you're taking advantage of their expertise about a skill ability or or subject of education education.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yes love it this has been amazing thank you so much for joining us today um I love it I love everything we've talked about I think it's so important and we will catch you guys next time on the next episode of Overcome Yourself oh I didn't say all of his links are going to be down in the show notes so you can grab all of his available resources and make sure to follow Maxwell on social media and we'll catch you guys next time. Bye